Community Fellows, Summer 2023: Family Services, Center for Victim Safety and Support
Center for Victim Safety and Support (CVSS) provides 24 hour non-residential, comprehensive services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and other crimes. CVSS also specializes in enhancing the systems response to victims of crime as well as prevention of crimes. They operate under the guidelines of a victim-centered approach, supporting victims’ rights, dignity, autonomy, and self-determination. To enhance the systems response to victims of crime, CVSS follows a model of co-location, where staff split their time between the main office and partner agencies throughout the community to facilitate partnerships and streamline services to victims.
Project or Position Title: Administrative Assistant Center for Victim Safety and Support
Project or Position Description:
The Administrative Assistant will provide direct support to the Center for Victim Safety and Support. The daily work focuses on performing routine clerical and reception work. Enthusiastically supports, practices, and communicates agency’s mission and statement of values. Our mission is to help families and individuals help themselves through direct services, collaboration, and advocacy.
Our Agency Values
- Integrity – Being honest and trustworthy
- Compassion – Extending empathy and understanding to others
- Hope – Believing in the strength of the human spirit and heart, to emerge and thrive in the face of challenge
- Diversity – Promoting a vision of community comprised of wide-ranging assets
- Respect – Treating all individuals with dignity and without judgement
- Community – Recognizing and reinforcing the importance of our world as being comprised of people of differing strengths and perspectives
- Justice – Promoting social and economic equity and fairness
- Quality – Striving for excellence in every aspect of our work
Summary of Duties and Responsibilities:
- Answers multiple single line telephone in a pleasant and professional manner, refers/transfers callers to appropriate staff, takes and relays accurate messages in a timely manner.
- Greets in-person clients and guests.
- Refers clients to appropriate staff of or program.
- Facilitates coordination of technology equipment to staff, as needed.
- With the Coordinator of Training and Outreach, assists with training and onboarding and coordination of new staff, volunteers, and interns.
- Assists office manager complete clerical program activities, including check requests, purchase orders, etc.
- Maintains an organized and clean office space and ensures safe and secure working environment.
- Maintains and coordinates multiple inventories, including technology, furniture, supplies, pantry, PPE, and client emergency assistance.
- Acts as a liaison and keeps cleaning inventory with contracted cleaning services.
- Oversees general building organization.
- Monitors cleaning logs and shared spaces and wipes down rooms at end of day.
- Attends meetings and disseminates meeting minutes to relevant staff members.
- Performs data entry into various software programs and databases, compiles statistics and trend data regarding clients with accuracy and speed.
- Coordinates and compiles data around client surveys.
- Facilitates incoming and outgoing mail.
- Assists in fundraising, special projects, and special events, as needed. Could include designing flyers.
- Completes all administrative tasks, as assigned, on a timely basis. This includes, but is not limited to, documenting all activities, preparing, and assisting staff in completing weekly and monthly activity reports.
- Ability and willingness to travel required.
Location: 29 N. Hamilton Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
Specific Skills/Experience Required for the Project:
- Bilingual (Spanish/English) a plus
- Provide excellent and thorough customer service to all clients and staff. Take the necessary time to understand client and staff needs.
- Ability to relate to persons in need of assistance
- Willingness to participate in training
- Ability to communicate professionally, clearly and effectively, both orally and in writing.
- Possess ‘out of the box’ thinking and resourcefulness.
- Ability to work effectively when under extreme pressure.
- Ability to work independently; but relate issues to manager appropriately.
- Ability to complete administrative tasks on a timely basis, including documenting all activities and maintaining up-to-date records.
- Strong computer skills including working knowledge of an email package and working knowledge of MS software programs: Word, Excel, and Outlook.
Time Commitment:
- Family Services Inc. Center for Victim Safety and Support is a 24-hour crisis center and has open office hours Monday through Friday, 9a-5p. The Office Manager will spend most of their time interacting with clients and staff, working on a team at the Center for Victim Safety and Support, completing documentation and administrative responsibilities and participating in meetings at Family Services.
- Students should expect to be available during the organization’s work hours.
- In some cases, fellows might be invited to participate in events over the weekend/ evenings.